All the Same
by FieryRuze
Summary: She discovered herself in a person who she'd least expect. At first, the only thing she thought they had in common was their long blonde hair and blue eyes. After time, she found she's a lot like him... or that he's a lot like her. *Deidara/Ino*
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto or characters or anything. I also do not own All the Same by The Sick Puppies.

**A/N**: This is my first fanfic. I know those words usually scare away readers but give it a chance. I'm also open to accepting pre-readers, if you're interested.

The title, "All the Same", is a play on words to Ino and Deidara's resemblance. And, FYI, I heard you say "No, duh!"

The timeline for this ff is before the Chunin Exams. I wanted Ino to keep her long hair while Sasuke was still in Konoha Village. If Deidara never joined Akatsuki by that time, then I apologize.

Oh yeah, I kind of marked this off as Drama/Friendship because I think I'm going to be more interested in Ino and Deidara's growing friendship. There may not even be a relationship.

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**All the Same**

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From the moment she laid eyes on him, it felt like she was falling in love. His black eyes were cold, yet, striking. She felt a dim sense of artlessness in his presence, although, his actions showed the opposite. That first second she saw him, she made a promise to herself to find that innocence.

Many failed attempts brought her to the realization that he wasn't what she saw in him the first time but she never gave up hope.

Desperateness became assertiveness. She soon became a bother. Anytime she saw him, she'd either follow him from a distance or attempt to have yet another failed conversation with him.

She tied her dull-blonde hair into a ponytail, leaving a long bang down the right side of her face. Then she threw a confident peace sign to herself in front the mirror. 'Today is the day', she repeated to her. Her cloudy blue eyes glimmered of anxiousness as she winked to herself.

Then, just like clockwork, she heard the familiar shambles through a rainstorm outside of her bedroom window. Sasuke was passing through. She took a deep breath, let out a girly squeal, and indiscreetly jumped from building to following building.

Sasuke, as usual, let out a silent curse and a grumpy sigh. Then, he muttered her name to himself in a very annoyed toned.

"Ino..."

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Chapter 1: Prologue

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Sasuke, despite being inscrutable, is predictable. His practices are like clockwork and his response, or lack thereof, to any question will more than likely be the same. Ino discovered that trait a long time ago. Instead of waiting for him to break out of his shell, she constantly poked at it.

Eventually, her curiosity turned into prowling activities. She followed him once and discovered that he always trains himself in the abandoned woods right outside of Konoha Village. Not long after that did she figure out his precision.

Through the windy and stormy weather, Sasuke would still go out and train under his specific hours. Today was a perfect example of his determination.

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Ino watched him in the distance as he trained below her. She sat in the same tree, on the same branch, and under the same thin leaves. Her gaze was locked on Sasuke as she admired his strength from afar.

Sasuke closed his eyes and did a number of hand seals before a fireball burned the bark of the tree she sat in. As he opened his eyes and glanced at tree in front of him, she couldn't help but wonder if she caught his attention.

There were times during his training sessions where she would swear he glanced up at her for a second. She was anything but discreet when she followed him and sometimes she would even recap the jutsu she spent many hours watching him perfect. She'd also spend most of her time thinking aloud. Despite that, he never _really_ looked at her.

Sasuke squinted in the rain and looked up at the storm. "I think he just looked at me," she said under her breath. "He did! He looked at me!" She squealed excitingly.

Sasuke didn't budge at all to her jolly cries but she wasn't taking any chances. In a moment's notice, Ino left nothing behind in the branch but a few twirling leaves that spun in the direction she fleeted.

As she walked back to Konoha Village, soaking in the downpour and continuously combining her index fingers, she recited to herself subtle indications that Sasuke isn't annoyed by her presence.

"Sasuke-kun doesn't mind me watching him from afar. He knows I follow him and he still takes the same route. If he didn't like me, he would avoid me,"

"Sasuke-kun is becoming more and more chatty. He didn't even breath whenever I used to talk to him, but now he grunts and growls. I'm breaking him, slowly," she cheered.

"Sasuke-kun doesn't even know the other village girls' names but he chants mine to himself..." she paused and frowned, "in aggravation."

"Sasuke-kun catches himself before he swears whenever I try to talk to him," she smiled and continued to poke her index fingers. "That shows that he has _some_ level of respect for me.

Ino began skipping in bliss at the last thought. As she danced in the water and splashed a melodic pattern in the puddles she noticed a silhouette against the dusk sky.

As she got closer to the enlarging figure, she started noticing subtle movement. It seemed to be breathing lightly but as she moved forward the breathing became heavier.

Soon enough, she began to point out characteristics that she couldn't see from the distance. Even in the dark rain, she noticed that the long blonde hair was much brighter than her owns'. The top of the hair was tied back into a upward-ponytail and the rest of the hair fell down on the over-sized black jacket. The jacket appeared to have red clouds that were outlined by a thick white.

Before she even realized it, she was standing right in front the kneeling person. The black nails were gripping against the rock solid gravel ground and the heavy panting were almost synchronized with the constant clapping of thunder.

Was this person training so hard that it hurts?

Was this person abandoned?

Today, Ino realized her motor skills worked quicker than her brain. She spoke words to the stranger before she even realized it _is_ a stranger.

"What did you ask me?" The voice of this person was really rough and manly but when he looked Ino in the face she saw nothing but feminine features.

Ino bit her lip looked upward to the sky, trying to recall the sentence that left her mouth without permission. "I asked..." The stranger frowned. "If you needed any help?"

Ino couldn't help but notice the cold blue eyes shine at her every time lightning strikes. Sasuke's eyes always held an interest to her but they were lacking color.

The stranger scoffed and turned away, staring at the cold, wet ground once again.

Lightning struck twice in the same place.

Ino fell to her knees, similar to the position of the stranger, and tapped the black jacket lightly. As the stranger looked at her, she noticed a small, but visible, adam's apple throbbing in his throat. He was definitely a male.

As their blue eyes locked into each other's, Ino forced a smiled and tilted her head a bit. The stranger's face shifted from unforgiving and cold to apathetic and helpless for _just_ one second. Ino stood up with her eyes continuously locked to his. As he looked up at her she reached out her palm.

He looked to the ground once again, his long bang nearly inches from touching it, and cleared his throat. Disregarding Ino's intention to help him on his feet, he stood up on his own. Ino swallowed her spit and smile. He 's taller than Sasuke, she thought.

As she continued to skip her way home the stranger followed by every step.

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As Ino walked into the door, she left it open for the stranger to follow her. He seemed somewhat timid when walking through the door but he still stood up straight and carried himself as if he was certain.

Sasuke, despite giving off superior energy, always looked lost.

Ino, while making comparisons between the stranger and Sasuke, looked over her shoulder for him. He was sitting there, Indian-style, on her hardwood floor.

"My couch isn't off limits." She said as she pointed towards a blue couch right beside him.

He wrung out the sleeves of his jacket and then looked at her.

"Oh... right! You're wet." She scrambled from left to right trying to decide in her head what she was going to do. "Stay here, I'll get you some clothing." Ino ran up the stairs in a hurry, leaving wet foot prints on every step.

While she was gone, he studied the room around him. As he walked to a counter he noticed a picture framed faced down. He lifted the picture frame and saw a picture of the girl smiling next to a pink-haired girl. They both look fairly young but very happy.

He stood the picture back up, assuming the face down position was an accident. Next to that picture frame was another picture of the girl. She had her arms wrapped around a black-haired guy from the back. Although she was smiling heavily, he looked rather shocked and dismayed. As he studied the face of the kid he noticed something special about him.

_He looks like..._

"Okay! Here I am!" Ino shouted as she ran down the stairs. Her tangled, wet hair ran down her back and she changed into more comfortable, dry clothes as well. While running down the stairs, she carried a handful of towels and bright-colored clothes. "Here is a towel," as she handed him the towel he took off his jacket. Bare underneath it, she noticed a large bandage on his chest before she turned around in full blush. With him drying himself behind her back, she pulled the clothes over her head. "And here are... some!... clooothes." She tried to refrain from stuttering or shouting in discomfort.

Unsuccessful.

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Ino bit her lip as she entered the living room. He was dressing in her bright pink st-hirt and a short brown skirt. The pink shirt fit him nicely in size, it was one of her biggest shirts. The skirt was also one of her biggest but it still didn't fit well in size.

Ino rubbed the back of her head and grinned. "I'm sorry, I don't have a lot of male clothes."

He looked away. "It's okay," Ino was surprised to see that he didn't mind wearing her clothes at all. He would make for a pretty girl and a handsome boy. He tapped his fingernails to the counter and picked up the picture of her and that pink-haired girl. "Is this your friend?"

She exhaled wearily and walked forward to him. She took a long stare at the picture. "Nnn-" she stopped herself and began stuttering again. "Well... her name is Sakura." She forced a smile and placed the picture frame back onto the counter. As it sat there on the desk, with the smiles in the picture smiling back at her, the smile she returned didn't feel so forced.

The stranger noticed a dull carving on a leg of the counter. He knelt down to the same level as the writing. "Ino," the way he stretched the word made it obvious that he was spelling-impaired. "Ino?" He asked as he repeated the horizontal carvings on the left leg of the counter.

"Yeah," she knelt down to the same level as him and looked at the carving. "That's my name." she said it with a genuine, welcoming smile. "What's yours?"

There was a long pause of silence. The stranger rubbed his fingers across the carving a few times and then started to follow it with his black nails. Ino frowned. His nails began to deepen the carving after he followed it for the 3rd time. Below Ino's name, he started to carve letters in romaji

"D," Ino barely understood romaji but she could easily recognize the first few letters in the English alphabet. "E," she was so busy trying to work out the letters in her mind that she didn't fret from the high screeching of the carving.

"I,"

"D,"

"A,"

"R?"

"A,"

He flipped his hair and looked at her. "My name is Deidara."

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**A/N**: Yeah... so, please review. I know this is like begging or whatever but reviews are a necessity to a decent FF(or a good effort). How will a casual searcher know he/she just passed up a good FF if only 2 people are reviewing it? So please, I'm prepared for all 3 Cs. Corrections/criticism/compliments. -Smiles and points to the bottom left-


	2. Silence

**Disclaimer**: Naruto, please let me own you… in the non-gay way!

**A/N**: Okay, I really hope you guys enjoy this chapter.

_"My name is Deidara." He said to Ino after he flipped his hair and looked at her._

_"Deidara…" she copied, wording it slowly to process it._

_The silence was the worst sound Ino had ever heard. It nearly made her ears bleed. She couldn't even breathe right because she was too afraid to cut the silence in a negative way. She looked across to Deidara who was as stiff as a rock as he co__ntinued to look at the carvings in the wood. She was waiting for the smallest since of noise so she can stand up and walk towards the window. Deidara, with his fingers quietly mocking Ino's carving, didn't make a peep. _

_The thunder clapped louder than ever. As the floor shook, Ino nearly lost her balance. At th__at cue, she got back on her feet and made haste to the window__ before the silence became apparent. _

_At a single crack of the window, whistling wind found its way in the house. The wind ran across the back of Deidara's neck. He__ turned his head curio__usly at the window. T__he window was completely__ open and he could hear the rain fall on the hard soil outside of her house. __Ino looked back at her and noticed Deidara didn't look very pleased. _

_"The window… why is it open?" he asked with a __rush of anxiety in his voice._

_"I'm sorry. Is it bad?" _

_"Why is it open?" his voice lost the little innocence it had. _

_"I like the sound of rain.__"__ She lied. __Deidara blinked spontaneously at the thought. "Come on." Ino motioned him to __stand next to her. _

_As Deidara approached the window he can feel the mist getting heavier. __He placed his hand on the window seal and his fingers nearly brushed against Ino's. Suddenly, the sound of rain began to dissolve, despite__the fact that the rain was falling harder. Ino looked down at his hand. They were just a few spaces from physical contact at that moment._

_"I like the sound of rain, too." Deidara announced._

_Ino shook her head and looked out the window at the storm. At that moment she realized she liked the sound of rain._

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The scent of faded spring rain woke Ino up from her dream. As she became reacquainted with her surroundings, she could hear whispers voices walk past her. She ran her hand across the wet spring grass and sat upright. Girls who walked past the green hill she was laying in would chuckle at her laziness. She pretended as if she didn't care every time it happened. She called the hill her comfort spot when she spent her days thinking about Sasuke. Today was very different. The previous night was the only thing she can think of since she has been awake.

She stood on her feet and looked down to the village. She saw Sakura walking alone with a handful of bags. For the first time in years, she didn't feel like she was in competition with Sakura. A part of her wanted to run down the hill and babble about the mysterious guy whom she met last night and another part of her wanted to force herself to hate Sakura at the time. Neither desire could be accomplished without the other desire interfering so she looked across the village once again.

A hand jumped on her shoulder and she barely flinched. Instead, she smiled and turned around. "Deidara?"

His short blonde hair caught the attention of her eye above everything else. 'What a tease.' She thought as she plucked his whiskers.

"Ahhhh! Ino!" He hollered as he ran amuck on the hill, causing attention from the villagers who were walking past.

"Naruto! Stop!" she shouted as she put full forced down on his shoulders. He paused and started breathing slowly, with harsh curse words under his breath.

"So cruel," he pouted and rubbed his cheek. "Who is Deidara?"

She turned around so he wouldn't see her in the face. He cheeks began to swell and she suddenly fell light-headed and flushed. "Dei…" she couldn't even say his name without smiling. She had no idea why she felt this way. "Deidara?"

Naruto made many attempts to look at her in the face but she always turned the other direction. "Yeah… you said that. Is he your boyfriend?"

'Boyfriend? I hardly know him enough to call him a friend,' she thought silently. 'Well… I might know _some_ things about him.' She started giggling at her own contradicting thoughts. 'I know that he likes the sound of rain.' She giggled once more with her eyes completely shut. As she opened it she noticed Naruto making an observation up close.

"Why are you blushing?" he asked as took a cautious step back.

"Blushing?! I am not blushing! I have a cold you… you…" she pondered on an effective insult and although many strong, personal insults came to mind, only one insult repeated in her mind. "blondie!"

He looked almost deadpan as Ino embarrassingly tried to keep her angry face. Then he just started to laugh out loud and was surprised to find that she laughed along with him. 'She's really different today.' As he looked over at her laughing, he noticed that it was the first time he saw her smile without pathetically forcing it. 'She seems happy.'

As Ino looked down the hill, she noticed Sasuke approaching her. She softly nudged Naruto to stop laughing as Sasuke walked up the hill.

"Naruto," Ino's heart cracked. He didn't even look at her. "Team 7 has a Rank C mission."

"Hey, Sasuke!" Ino shouted in a rush, trying to catch him before he dragged Naruto away.

"Bye, Ino!" Naruto said as he waved and disappeared.

'Everyone leaves me… story of my life.'

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_She looked across the room and Deidara was sitting on the couch alone, fiddling with his fingers.__ Ino noticed a small open scar across the palm of his hand__ from the distance__. She__ sat by the window, enjoying the sound of the rain and hoping Deidara would join her shortly. Ino's muscles became tense and she realized the rain is getting slower.__Her opportunity to have another conversation was slowly dying. _

_"Ino…" he stood immediately on his feet. The skirt and risen while he was sitting and obviously didn't cross his mind. "I'm sorry."_

_Ino was in a forward-rewind scuffle, deciding if she wanted to walk toward him or stay the distance. __"Huh?__ Sorry for what?__"_

_"I'm leaving now." Deidara turned his back on Ino__She opened her mouth but couldn't convince herself why she'd have an opinion on his exit.__ Deidara__ began__ undre__ssed with his back turned against her face. She exchanged many faces before finally turning around and covering her eyes. Suddenly, at the sound of a __creaking door Ino turned around slowly. His front foot was already out in the drizzle storm. His was still-damp jacket stood strong against the blazing wind.__ As he finished walking out the house, he stopped right as the door was closing and put his head down. "Don't just sit back and wait for something to go your way, Ino."_

_And with his last word, he disappeared __as the last lightning bolt of the night struck the rooftop._

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During lonely moments like this, Ino really felt a need to confront Asuma about gathering Team 10. They hardly did any missions and Ino felt responsible for that. She never realized how enclosed she felt until she realized she had nothing to do. She reached at the back of her head and took out a tight rubber band that held her hair in a long ponytail. Her hair swung wildly in the wind and he eyes focused on the people of the village. She tucked her lush hair behind her ears and slowly began walking away… away from it all.

Walking with a completely blank mind, she lost herself in an area she was unfamiliar with. She unknowingly took herself to Sasuke's training spot. She felt her chakra charging inside of her to be released. She never trained alone or desired to train alone, so the sudden urge was liberating. She nodded, closed her eyes, and started to conjure up hand seals she learned from her distant admiring.

As the sun began to fall, Ino continued to train. She had never felt so connected with life before. Her uncontained hair wildered with the wind and face showed so much determination. She did things she didn't even know she was capable of. She could feel the wind for the first time as it caressed her. She could smell the spring rain more ever in the forest. Her five senses were never so keen. Just then, from the distance, she heard the rustling of the wet grass. She turned slowly.

Sasuke stood there with a completely blank face, looking right past her. She let out a happy sigh and tucked her hair once again. "Now I see why you train here so often," Sasuke didn't nudge. "I've never felt so..." as she looked for the right word to describe her energy Sasuke began walking away.

"You're a burden." He unapologetically said. Ino stumbled on her feet and was taken aback. "I wish you would leave me alone."

Crushed.

Ino's throat began to close. She felt as if she was chocking and the one person who was able to help was the one who shoved the sharp object deeper down her throat. With a raging rush, she ran in front of Sasuke and punched in his face. He used his arm to wipe a small line of blood that fell from his lips.

"The only person you care about is yourself!"

Ino had so many words she wanted to say to him but she couldn't replace the urge to hit on him some more. For the first time in her entire life, she wanted to genuinely talk to Sasuke and then he cut her emotions on the short string they hung on. She hit him one more time, this time bring him down to the floor. He stood on his knees and his hands were down to the ground. Ino got on her knees right beside him and started forcefully pounding him on his back.

"I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!" with every time she repeated the phrase, she hit him a little harder.

Her eyes widened and she let out a great gasp as it just hit her that Sasuke was in the same position Deidara was in when she met him. She stood up on her feet slowly and started to walk away. Without looking back she can hear Sasuke standing on his feet and his mouth opening.

"I'm-"

"I don't need your apology, Sasuke! Just leave me alone."

And then she spent the rest of the day slowly walking home with her tears running down her chin at every step she made.

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**A/N**: A little super melodramatic and OOC there… but I wanted to make sure I gave Ino and Sasuke a good starting ground to develop a better connection between them and the best way to get a GOOD starting ground is the give the characters a bad one. Right?


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